This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17

It’s one thing to declare that your past doesn’t define you. But it’s another thing to live like you really believe it.

The Bible strongly declares that a person who comes to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and seeks to follow to Him is an all-new person. Listen to this from the Bible book of 2 Corinthians: “Since we believe Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15,17)

Getting this from our heads to our hearts can take some doing. Here are five statements based on scripture that you can focus on, to help your identity in Jesus take root:

I will accept Jesus’s death as payment for all my wrongs. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
I will forgive myself for my past mistakes, as He has. (Romans 8:1)
I will accept my worth based on what God says about my value. (Jeremiah 31:3)
I will make quick amends with God and others. (James 5:16)
By the grace of God, I will be me—no better or worse than others. (Psalm 139:14)[1]

Focusing on these truths from Scripture is key to remembering who you are today. Only in eternity will you see and understand the completed picture created by God’s work in your life.

[1] Sala, Darlene, and Bonnie Sala. “A Final Word: Where Do I Go From Here?” Created for a Purpose, Barbour Publishing, Inc., 2020, pp. 186–189.